Sakura!

Huzzah! The cherry blossoms were slow to come out this year (it's been colder than usual), but they finally arrived. They're already falling (they only stick around for, like, a week once they're fully bloomed), but they are still pretty pretty pretty.

There are a lot of trees in my neighborhood and in the park down the street from where I work. Lovely! Yesterday I went to Ueno Park to check them out there, and it was INSANE. I think Ueno Park on a Sunday is usually crowded, but Ueno Park on a Sunday when the cherry blossoms are in bloom? Unbelievably crazy. People everywhere - eating, boozing, taking pictures. I couldn't have found a spot to sit down even if I'd wanted. But I took a ton of pictures and visited a temple and ate matcha ice cream and takoyaki, and it was a nice time even with the crowds.

Today was a gorgeous day, which was fantastic since a few of us went to yet another park (Shinjuku Gyoen) for lunch. There were a lot of people there, but it was nothing like Ueno (more open space maybe, not to mention that it was a weekday). Took approximately ten million more sakura photos. It was just gorgeous and fun and so relaxing. Pretty much a perfect day.

Okay, picture explanations. The first is from Hikarigaoka Park (by my work) a couple days ago. Yes, it was an unbelievably beautiful day. The second is from my neighborhood, on my way to the station. It's very pretty even without the sakura blossoms! And, okay, so there's not a lot of sakura action in the third one, but if you're curious about my station, here's one part of it (I take the subway more often, since that's how I get to work, but the train platform makes for a more interesting picture).

The last four are all from Ueno Park. Marvel at all the people! Gaze at the prettiness! And marvel at all the people again! The last was taken from the temple - I had already gone through that mass of people to get there, and had to go back through it again to get back to the station. It's all food vendors lining the path; I'm sure it would have looked and smelled amazing if I'd been hungry, but I was stuffed from the takoyaki, so the smells seriously made me almost puke.

Which is obviously the best way to end an entry about how cherry blossoms are so pretty.

I'll post pics from Shinjuku Gyoen in a different entry.